On track & field.

Webb still has miles to go till he's satisfied

May 24, 2004|By Philip Hersh.

CARSON, Calif. — Alan Webb has learned something about perspective over the past three years.

It had taken less than four minutes for it to disappear, for him to become the man-child of the hour on the U.S. sports scene. He did the national TV shows, got the stories in major newspapers and magazines, then a quickie book--the whole grab bag that comes with instant fame.

Both Webb and the celebrity faded fast, making the weeks and months and years that followed seem to drag on forever.

So it was understandable for Webb not to be carried away Saturday by his best performance in the three years since he seemed destined to be a star in the track event with the most mythic appeal to his country.

"Back in high school, I ran one great race," Webb said. "I have yet to prove I can be consistent."

That one great race was in the mile, which Webb covered in 3 minutes 53.43 seconds. The date was May 27, 2001, late in his senior year at South Lakes High School in Reston, Va. He had broken by almost two seconds the 36-year-old prep record set by Jim Ryun, who went on to become the greatest miler in U.S. history.

A confident Webb said after that race he had proved himself at the national level. He said he would turn his attention to trying to win at the international level.

Since then, Webb's standing has dropped to the point his biography is not even among the 175 included in the 2004 USA Track & Field media guide. His profile had been reduced to the question, "Whatever happened to that guy who broke Jim Ryun's record?"

"It has been a rough couple years," said Webb, 21, who left the University of Michigan after one year to become a professional runner. "It's hard to be patient.

"I've always gone into every race thinking, `this is the race where you will prove to yourself it can be done.' I knew that race wasn't far away, but at the same time, it's tough to lose. [Saturday] was just that day where it all came together, and I can move on now."

Webb won the 1,500 meters, or metric mile, Saturday at the Home Depot Invitational in 3 minutes 35.71 seconds, more than 2.5 seconds faster than his previous personal best and second fastest in the world this season. Until then, he had not broken 3:40, a pedestrian level, in three years.

Webb also ran away from a field that included the leading contenders for the three 1,500-meter places on the U.S. Olympic team at July's trials. He beat the next U.S. finisher by 4.34 seconds.

Such victories once were routine for Webb. He went from a spectacular high school career to a solid freshman season at Michigan, winning Big Ten titles in cross country and the 1,500 meters outdoors.

But Webb was frustrated by injuries and friction with the Michigan coaching staff. He left school, signed a contract with Nike and returned to Virginia to train with his high school coach, Scott Raczko. Given his results in 2002 and 2003, the decision looked wrongheaded.

"Any decision you make in life, you are going to think about," Webb said. "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't (questioned his decision). I knew in the long term, it was the right thing to do. I knew this day would come, whether today or two years from now or three years from now."

Sixth-ranked nationally in the 1,500 as a high school senior, Webb was unranked the past two seasons. Last year was typical: He finished seventh at the indoor U.S. Championships and 10th outdoors. Appendicitis last summer added surgery to insult.

Every time he lined up at the start, Webb was introduced as the runner who broke Ryun's record. Then he would slog across the finish with the also-rans. Forty-five U.S. men ran 1,500 meters faster than he did in 2003.

Webb heard the whispers that he was a one-race wonder. "As much as I wanted to say I didn't care what people thought, in the back of your mind it's always there," he said. "If you're not living under a rock, you are going to hear what people say about you. I would have liked not to have the pressure, but it has made me a stronger person, a stronger runner and a better family member."

To the question of whether he is a better runner, Webb hopes to provide answers in three 1,500-meter races in Europe, beginning at Hengelo, the Netherlands, on May 31. It will be the first time Webb tests himself on the European circuit against runners for whom 3:35 in the 1,500 is a jog.

When he broke Ryun's record, Webb was fifth in an invitational race won by Morocco's Hicham El-Guerrouj, the fastest miler in history. El-Guerrouj was impressed with the kid he had beaten by four seconds.

"Alan Webb can become my No. 1 rival if he really works at it," El Guerrouj said. "Obviously, he has a great future."

Webb still is trying to reclaim the past, when one great race became a monkey of great expectations on his back.

"I always thought it was a gorilla, with claws that scratch my face," Webb said.